


Sixty One Days

by nickelsandcoats



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Multi, OT4, Polyamory, Quarantine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:14:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24174946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nickelsandcoats/pseuds/nickelsandcoats
Summary: It's been sixty one days since they'd seen each other in person.
Relationships: Christy Neal/Link Neal, Jessie McLaughlin/Rhett McLaughlin, Rhett McLaughlin/Jessie McLaughlin/Link Neal/Christy Neal, Rhett McLaughlin/Link Neal
Comments: 12
Kudos: 63
Collections: Good Mythical Self-Isolation





	Sixty One Days

It’s been sixty days.

No, sixty one now, Rhett thought as he blinked awake to his phone buzzing gently on his nightstand. He snagged it and squinted at the time. 

It’s two in the morning, and his phone displays Link’s selfie, the one he took when he snatched Rhett’s phone and took a series of increasingly silly selfies, smile spreading his cheeks wide as he played keep away with the phone. Rhett had finally managed to lunge in and tickle his sides, making Link squeal and dodge right into a deep kiss, at which point he’d loosened his grip on the phone and let Rhett have both of his prizes.

He’d been distracted long enough that the call went to voicemail. He swiped the screen and called Link back, slipping as quietly as he could out of bed so as not to wake Jessie, whose breathing was still deep and even in sleep.

The call connected as he reached the top of the stairs, and all he heard was Link’s shaky breath. Rhett froze, pressing the phone harder to his ear.

“Bo?” he whispered, running as lightly as he could down the stairs, waiting for Link’s reply.

Link inhaled deeply, let his breath out in another shaky gust and sniffed. Rhett’s heart squeezed in his chest, the ache spreading through his entire body. With numb fingers, he slipped open the kitchen door and went outside, tipping his head back to look at the few pinpricks of light from the stars.

Rhett let the silence spiral out, feeling the start of tears prick at his own eyes. Ever since they’d met, his tears and Link’s seemed to go hand-in-hand--but normally, they were there to hold each other through it, rocking each other gently and murmuring soft words of love until the torrent passed. 

It’s been sixty one days.

“Rhett, I--” Link swallows thickly, sniffs again. There’s another long breath, and then, “It’s...it’s not been a good day.” He laughs a bit self-deprecatingly, adds, “But are any days good anymore? I snapped at Christy today--she was just trying to help and I snapped at her instead. God, Rhett, I--I can’t. I just can’t.”

Rhett listens to what Link’s not saying, the things only he has ever been able to hear.

_I need you._

_I need to fall apart._

_I need to not be strong for a little while._

_I need to feel your heart beat against mine._

_I need you to hold my heart for a moment (forever)._

_I need you._

He thought back to the text Christy had sent him earlier, the one that said, _He’s falling apart and I don’t think I can help fix this._ Then _He needs you._

He’d texted Link after that, but got no response to his flurry of texts, and his calls had gone unanswered. Christy finally texted him at 11, saying _finally got him to go to sleep. I’ll have him call you tomorrow. Love you._ But nothing from Link himself until now, at two in the morning, with the night and the distance between their souls stretching thin between them. Connected only through two tinny speakers and harsh breaths choked with tears, and the beating of their hearts in their throats.

Rhett drew a deep breath, dashing away the tears that pooled in his eyes. “I’m coming.”

“What? No, you can’t--”

“I’ll be there in ten.” He hung up and slipped back into the house, darting back up the stairs to throw on a hoodie and jeans, grabbing his wallet and keys off the dresser. He leaned down to brush a gentle kiss against Jessie’s cheek. 

She blinked awake and turned her head, catching his cheek with her palm, running her thumb over his beard. “Go get him. Bring him here if you need to. Or stay with him there for a few days.”

Rhett turned his face into her palm, pressing his lips there in a lingering kiss. “We might go to the house,” he murmured. 

Jessie reached over to turn on her bedside lamp, casting the room in a soft dim glow. She looked up at him with dark, playful eyes. “Maybe Christy and I will come join you boys for an afternoon,” she said with a smirk, then, more gently, “We all miss each other.”

He smiled a bit sadly at her, and nodded. “I know he misses you. And I miss Christy, just like you do. But….” he sighed, “Give us a day or two, yeah?”

She leaned up and captured his mouth, kissing him softly. “Give him my love. Take care of him.”

“I always do.” He kissed her once more, cupping her cheek, and then jogged out of the room and down the stairs.

The drive to Link’s house passed in a blur.

He unlatched the back gate, pushing his way in and half running through the narrow stretch next to the house, stopping at Link’s kitchen door. He had his phone out in a heartbeat and sent a text: _I’m outside._ He heard Link’s phone chime from somewhere behind him, and he turned slowly, slipping his phone back into his pocket.

Link stood ten feet away, looking smaller and greyer than Rhett had ever seen him look, standing there under the soft light of his outdoor lighting. 

“You’re here.” Link choked out, running his hand through the wild shock of his hair. “You’re here.”

Rhett was moving before he realized it, zeroing in on Link like he was the sun and Rhett was a helpless satellite, unable to resist the pull to go to him. 

They crashed into each other, Link sagging into his arms, still breathing out a choked “You’re here you’re here you’re here you came...you really came.”

Rhett pulled his soul into his arms and smashed his face into Link’s hair, breathing him in deep in a vain effort to regain a little of his composure. “I’ll always come for you. Always always always.” He leaned back a little, tipping Link’s too-thin face up and brushing a tear away. “Never doubt that.” He pressed a gentle kiss to Link’s forehead, both of his cheeks, the tip of his nose, before finally capturing his mouth and tasting the salt of his tears and the bitterness of his loneliness.

The kiss broke apart and Link pressed his face back into Rhett’s chest, burrowing in and still shuddering with the force of his emotions. Rhett held him closely, running one hand in long, smooth strokes up and down Link’s back, easing away the ache. Finally, Link pulled away and dashed his arm across his face, brushing away the last of his tears.

Rhett quirked a small smile when he finally took a look at what Link was wearing--one of Rhett’s old sweatshirts that was hanging down on him, two sizes too big, and a loose pair of what Rhett was fairly certain were a pair of his old joggers, judging by the way the hems spilled down over his feet. 

“What?” Link said, a little self consciously as he looked down at his outfit. “Christy gave these to me. I think she thought they might help. They...still smell a bit like you.”

“Did they help?”

“A bit.”

They stood there staring at each other, drinking in each other’s presence for a few beats before Link said, “What now?”

Rhett smiled. “C’mon. Go get your wallet and keys.”

Link cocked his head and furrowed his brow. “My keys? Why--”

“We’re going to the house.”

Link looked like all of his strings had been cut. “The house? The...house. Oh god, we’ve been such idiots.”

Rhett grinned a bit and gave him a nudge to get going already. “I’ll be in the car. Come on when you’re ready.”

Link’s hand squeezed Rhett’s thigh for the entire drive, and when they got to the house and Rhett had parked the car in the driveway, they sat for a moment, breathing the same air. Link scrambled out of the car first, nearly running to the door and dropping his keys in his haste to get the door unlocked. Rhett chuckled a bit and slid up behind him, wrapping his arms around him and kissing the back of his neck, flustering him further.

“Stoppit or I’m never going to get this damn door unlocked!” Link exclaimed as the key finally turned and they spilled in through the doorway, Rhett kicking the door closed as Link dragged them to the middle room and the bed that had laid empty for far too long.

After, with the sweat still cooling on their bodies, Link traced a path through Rhett’s sparse chest hair, eyes tracking the slow movement of his finger. “How long?” Link mumbled, finger never ceasing in its restless path.

Rhett turned his head and pressed a fierce kiss onto Link’s forehead. “Sixty one days. An eternity.”

“Never again. Rhett, I can’t do it. I can’t.” Link looked up at him then, eyes shiny with tears. 

“Never ever again,” Rhett swore fervently, turning to pull Link into his arms as a few tears escaped. “Never. I can’t bear it either.”

“I felt...hollow. Like someone had carved out half of my heart or my soul, or something, and had taken it somewhere I couldn’t reach. I mean, I saw you every day, talked to you every day, but it was never enough.”

“I felt the same, bo. Jessie said I looked like I’d been turned into a ghost, just passing through the house like I wasn’t completely there.”

“Never again,” Link whispered. “Never ever again.” He curled forward, pressing his face into Rhett’s neck and slinging an arm over his waist, drawing him in close. “Tell me a story, please.”

Rhett pressed a soft kiss to Link’s hair. “What do you want to hear?”

“Our story,” Link whispered. “Just until I fall asleep.” He settled in even closer, fingers rubbing small circles on Rhett’s waist.

“On the first day of first grade, I met this kid. Small, skinny, brightest blue eyes I’d ever seen. Little did I know I’d found my soulmate that day. But here we are.” He felt Link’s smile against his neck and kept on talking, leading them through their schooldays and into college, where they met their wonderful, beautiful wives, and realized that yes, they could have everything and everyone they’d ever wanted.

He paused for a moment, listening to Link’s long, even breaths. He waited a few beats then added, “And when the world closed itself off, and we were kept apart, I thought my world would end. And for a while, it did. But that will never happen again. Nothing is going to keep me from you. Never again, Link, I swear it.” He pinched his burning eyes and willed the tears away. He turned a bit to pull Link firmly into his chest and whispered “Never again” until his voice gave out and he dropped off into the first dreamless sleep he’d had in sixty one days.

In the morning, his phone buzzed with two texts in their group chat, one from Jessie and the other from Christy. 

_How's our boy?_ both texts asked. Rhett grinned and took a selfie of the two of them--Link’s head pillowed on his shoulder, face soft and unlined for the first time in weeks. The sheets had been pushed down to expose their chests, and Rhett’s hand curled possessively around Link’s arm. 

_I've got him._


End file.
